Lizzo played a crystal flute belonging to James Madison during her concert in Washington, DC on Tuesday night.
In the days leading up to the concert, the Library of Congress guest Lizzo to visit his extensive flute archive, even offering him the opportunity to “play a couple [of them].” As a classically trained flautist, Lizzo couldn’t pass up the offer, which led to literal history on stage during Tuesday’s show.
“It’s crazy. I have to be very careful,” Lizzo remarked as she began to introduce the very special guest of the evening. “It’s from the early 1800s, it was a present for james madison of a French designer of crystal flutes to celebrate his second mandate. There was a fire…and the only two things that were saved were a portrait of George Washington and this crystal flute right here.
“I’m the first person to play it,” Lizzo continued, “so you’re about to hear what it sounds like for the first time.”
A representative from the Library of Congress then handed the flute to Lizzo. After marveling at the instrument for several seconds, she played a few notes, and did a bit of twerking, before handing it back to the rep.
“Bitch, I just twerked and played James Madison’s flute from the 1800s!” she exclaimed. “Thank you to the Library of Congress for preserving our history and making history cool. History is really cool, guys!
Check out the fan-captured footage of the moment below.
Lizzo’s “Special Tour,” which supports her latest album of the same name, kicked off this weekend in Florida (read our review here). Tickets for future dates can be found here.
This time @lizzo I gotta play james madison flute shit. #the story pic.twitter.com/4kwivayiQz
—Batman (@batmaniatis) September 28, 2022
Making History in DC: @lizzo playing the crystal flute by James Madison from @librarycongress tonight! @nbcwashington @Telemundo44 pic.twitter.com/kYTTacURyZ
— Vince Lattanzio (@VinceLattanzio) September 28, 2022
History at @CapitalOneArena with @lizzo playing Pres James Madison’s 1813 crystal flute from the @librarycongress! #Lizzo @WashProbs @nprmusic @PoPville pic.twitter.com/K1C4ItHCqA
— dcitty (@dcitty) September 28, 2022
The @librarycongress has the largest flute collection in the world with over 1,800 flutes. It includes Pres James Madison’s crystal flute from 1813. @lizzo we’d love for you to come see it and even play a few when you’re in DC next week. Like your song, they are “Good as hell”.😉 pic.twitter.com/2FkUFZfIYh
— Carla Hayden (@LibnOfCongress) September 23, 2022
